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Dietary diatribe

29 November 2003

YET more controversy has blown up over the alleged perils of the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet. At a press conference on 20 November, doctors representing the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) – a vegan lobby group based in Washington DC – drew attention to two deaths that they claim may be linked to the controversial diet.

One of the dead was a 16-year-old girl who collapsed in school and died suddenly from a massive heart abnormality. The other was a 41-year-old man who died with a similar abnormality despite no history of heart disease. Both were on the Atkins diet. “Could …